1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to compositions useful for modifying the behavior of an animal through gustatory and/or olfactory aversion, and the uses of such compositions for this purpose.
2. Background Art
An animal having a lesion or superficial affliction, or a bandage or other foreign object, such as a medical device, on its body tends to lick or bite at the lesion or superficial affliction or molest or attempt to remove the bandage or foreign object. This behavior results in the lesion taking longer to heal or the bandage or foreign object becoming nonfunctional for its purpose.
One way this problem has been addressed in the past is by the use of head cones, also known as Elizabethan collars, to prevent the animal's access to the area with its mouth. However, head cones have many disadvantages. Often the head cone must be worn for several days, putting undue leverage and pressure on the animal's neck. Further, head cones are impractical to use if the animal must be crated in order to limit activity or is too large. For a domestic animal, enduring the physical burden and visual limitations of a head cone can easily result in the animal damaging furniture and harming itself. The unnatural circumstance of having to endure a head cone and an increased sense of vulnerability due to a reduced field of vision can increase stress levels.
Another method of addressing this problem involves the application of bitter tasting substances. One such substance is a spray sold under the tradename Bitter Apple. Another is a topical spray with an added antiseptic agent sold under the tradename Wound-Guard. A gel sold under the tradename Yuk-2e can be applied directly to the animal's wound or bandage. Yuk-2e is a combination of denatonium and sucrose octaacetate and is extremely offensive to the animal, yet harmless. In all these products, animals are dissuaded from molesting, licking, chewing or biting or self-traumatizing wounds, sutures, dressings, and the like by the bitter taste of the composition. However, none of these products provides long-lasting deterrence. Each requires relatively frequent re-application. In both veterinary and home environments, this frequent need for attention puts an undue burden on the animal's caretaker and may serve to contaminate surfaces with which the animal comes into contact.
In the past, various devices have been employed for use in discouraging animals from licking their wounds. These devices, for the most part, have been cumbersome and difficult to controllably position on the skin adjacent the wound. Furthermore, due to their large size, most prior art devices are susceptible to being removed by the animal through rubbing contact with stationary objects. An electrically actuated apparatus for discouraging animals from licking their wounds can have exposed conductive traces for completing a circuit through the animal's tongue whenever it comes in contact with adjacent conductive traces. The apparatus has been found to be particularly useful for use when pets such as dogs or cats suffer wounds, and their tendency to lick their wounds impairs prompt healing.
It would be useful to have a long-lasting gustatory and/or olfactory aversion formulation that avoids the problems of the prior art remedies discussed above.